


Advancement

by rainsonata



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, M/M, second jobs transitioning to third jobs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:22:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28615050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainsonata/pseuds/rainsonata
Summary: Another job advancement means new title and new codes to tinker with. Doom Bringer’s counterparts are less than impressed. Their job advancements open up new parts of themselves as they discover how their decisions impact others.
Relationships: Dominator - Relationship, Doom Bringer - Relationship, Doom Bringer/Dominator, Doom Bringer/Mastermind, Edward "Add" Grenore/Edward "Add" Grenore, Mad Paradox - Relationship, Mastermind - Relationship
Kudos: 4





	1. Alias

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.

It smelled of burnt metal, fried electric circuits and dust rained down when Psyker slid across with Dynamo to shield himself from falling particles coming from the enraged machine. The destruction it caused was beautiful, but if only it would stop being inconvenient and _refusing his attention_. It wasn’t all machine if its Henir origins were anything to suggest, but its machine like appearance fascinated him. 

The tattoos embedded on his arms glowed, blasting energy at the Spatio Reaper with a couple of kicks and landing on his feet with Dynamo catching him. Pain shot up the arm where the it hit him with a laser. He hugged his burnt arm and hissed when he saw blood smudged on his hand. At the corner of his vision, Mastermind set up his drones to launch an array of lasers to distract it while Esper opened a portal to attack from behind. Psyker looked up in time to force himself to fall back and roll away from the pillar of energy filling the room.

Mastermind gasped and slammed against the stone floor, pushing himself as far as he could away from it, but was hit when he failed to outrun it. Esper teleported to where the scientist was to support him, pulling him over to a portal for shelter.

With the Spatio Reaper distracted by his counterparts, Psyker found an opening and surrounded himself in electricity, reeling it in to deliver a round of kicks and punches. He dropped his smile when the Spatio Reaper extended its appendages to pin him down, an inhuman cry vibrated the empty platform they stood at.

He was lying in between the main base of its two legs with the thinner legs projected to stab him when a team of light blinded him. Mastermind appeared with his drones set up in the air to rain grenades of lasers at the Spatio Reaper, causing it to loosen its hold on Psyker to let him slip away. A bombardment of energy spheres was tossed by Esper, who entered out of a portal for an assault.

Electricity ran through his veins, elevated by the thrill and satisfaction of clawing through its tough exterior. Wrapping his arms around one of its thinner legs, he electrocuted the base of it and forced it down to give up and shrivel in the chilly air. 

“Analyzing data,” Mastermind murmured to Dynamo to scan its fallen body. His hair was covered in the blue muck from the Spatio Reaper’s blood, a deep blue that shone under the moon like a jellyfish. Immersed by new data, the scientist wasn’t going to complain about the mess until they would be home. 

Twisting his wrists to look at the black barcode tattoos etched into his skin, Psyker grinned at the tangible results. If he knew how much this enhanced his fighting, he would have merged himself with the Nasod Armor years ago. The enemy’s weaknesses became clearer when he and the Nasod Armor became one. It was perfection, better than the flimsy incomplete Nasod Armor from before that was hindered by human limitations. He could destroy everything!

“Are you done cackling like a madman?” Mastermind folded his arms with a bored facade, but Psyker could have sworn he saw concern. For what? What did he do?

“Aw, let him have fun.” Esper snickered and crawled out to show that he too was covered in gravel and blood, “That’s what makes him so cute.”

Psyker abruptly stopped laughing and glared at those two, insulted by the cute comment. “Didn’t you see that? How quickly it succumbed to my attacks? And how fast I move-”

“Yeah, you’re a hot shot fighter.” Mastermind rolled his eyes, but smiled.

“Cat-astrophe!” Psyker announced with pride, “That’s my new title.” 

“Timoria and Abysser already claimed it,” Mastermind said, never mind that Psyker tried sneaking in a pun that made the scientist pop out a vein. He thanked his lucky stars that the former demon queen and her butler stole the title before Psyker could get his hands on it. 

When did those two gain advancement? Psyker wondered. They did mention once about gaining new powers and testing them out, but he didn’t think they would jump quick to name themselves so soon.

“Plasmic Brawler?”

“This isn’t a video game,” Esper snorted. “Aren’t titles something you have to earn first?”

“I expected Add to be mean about this, but you, Esper?” Psyker clutched his chest with feigned sadness, “I’m hurt.”

Mastermind sighed, “And here I thought you would turn into a mindless weapon.”

Was that why Mastermind kept looking at him with concern eyes? There were potential side effects he kept in mind when Psyker made the decision to merge himself with the Nasod Armor, but it never occurred to him to think about how Mastermind felt about the change. Mastermind’s words were making him feel guilty… he should do something later to make it up to him. They were never truly comfortable talking about their feelings, at least initially, but hearing Mastermind express some sort of relief was… sweet of him. 

Psyker laughed, “Nope, I’m still old me!” He softened his smile, “If you’re that worried about me, you should have told me.”

“I… seeing you end up as that would be a problem.” Mastermind paused, “Maybe you’re more mature than I thought.” He sounded impressed. 

“Doomsday is strong. Yeah, that’s a good word.” Psyker paused to wipe blood off his black gloves and grinned. “Doom Bringer, I bring the doom!”

“I take it back,” Mastermind facepalmed. “You’re still an idiot.”

Esper giggled and clapped his hands.

The brawler scratched his head in confusion at Mastermind’s reaction. Was it something he said?

* * *

_Omake_

“Wait, so Lusa, you’re really calling yourself Doom Bringer?” Esper lost his balance and fell off a pillar he was sitting on with a loud cackle, “And you think my name is too dark? Who’s the edgy one now?”

“Shut up!” Psyker turned red, “That’s an awesome name!”

“If you insist, _Doom Bringer_.” Mastermind smirked.

This is why he stopped asking his counterparts for their opinions on his naming abilities.


	2. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s not easy going through yet another job advancement when it means getting bloodied knuckles and having your counterpart judge you. Doom Bringer’s first impression of Dominator leaves a lot of questions for the brawler and few answers to satisfy him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.

His skin stung, an icy sensation burned through his pores when Bringer dabbed with a cotton swab to soak in the blood. Mastermind was back in the apartment he shared with his counterparts, propped on a chair in the living room and his drenched clothes in the washing machine. The warm mahogany floor contrasted against the pale white carpet at his feet when he stretched. 

The familiar stinging smell of rubbing alcohol filled his nostrils and had Mastermind pinch his nose. Stripped down to his shirt and shorts, he wrapped his arms around his stomach in feeling exposed. He could feel his counterpart’s eyes leering at the cuts and bruises decorating his bare skin. They’ve known each other for years, but the weight inside his chest never went away when the brawler gave him that look, an expression that spoke for itself.

“I can’t believe you’re stupid enough to go face that…thing. By yourself.”

Days in Elrianode couldn’t tell them enough on the true nature of those beings occupying the foreign dimension. They held a nasod like appearance with inhuman features, mutations taken from twisting the properties of its original form. All of this would have been fascinating for research material, if not for time pressuring them to take care of them before the El threatened to split itself again.

“I wasn’t alone,” Mastermind’s eyes averted to the cat bandages on his knees.

Where did Esper buy these? The scientist frowned when he realized he hasn’t seen the time traveler for weeks. His disappearances were sporadic, but his absence was apparent when he has been spending more time with him and Bringer as of late. Not even random visits to drop the occasional ‘souvenirs’ he was so kind to call them. 

He fought those Elrianode monsters before, sometimes with Bringer, so why was his counterpart making a fuss about it? The scientist threw a half-lidded gaze, annoyance at the brawler for treating him like a child. Bringer was worried on his wellbeing, a natural reaction because of grown attachment from being together, but it hurt his high-strung pride like he couldn’t take care of himself. Yes, he didn’t go alone this time. He wasn’t stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.

Bringer scowled. “With fire Elbrat, the dark mage, and pineapple.” 

“He and his sister offered help,” Mastermind said.

And the Void Princess insisted on coming along - not because she was worried about the redhead or anything! The Blazing Heart’s all-knowing smirk and wag of her eyebrows had the scientist snort at the flimsy excuse. The dark mage’s infatuation for the Rune Slayer was as clear as day.

Mastermind was never one for small talk or the bantering between his teammates, but seeing the Rune’s look of bewilderment when his sister teased him for growing out his hair made the scientist chuckle. The people he once saw as hindrance to his journey became something more of a team, maybe more than that.

“You could have asked me to come along.”

Guilt panged when he recognized the hurt tone in Bringer’s voice. It wasn’t just concern the brawler had for him, but sadness in forgetting about him. Mastermind tugged on his bangs in frustration at the miscommunication.

“You don’t need to be with me all the time,” Mastermind said. “Both of us are adults. We don’t need to hold hands all the time.” 

“No, but I would appreciate it if you told me when you were coming and going at least,” he shook his head. “Those monsters are stronger than those sad excuse of nasods in Elysion. They can grate you like cheese.”

His lips were closed, but Mastermind could tell the other was restraining himself showing his canines in a clenched grit from losing his temper or crying. Probably both. Bringer had the face of a thug, but his heart was the same, always worrying for others, even if he was reluctant to show it. He pulled Bringer into a hug, wrapping his arms around the waist and resting his head on the brawler’s shoulder.

“You were gone for days,” Bringer’s voice was hollow with no depth, as if he had given up on his emotions and only had enough energy to speak. “It wasn’t until I talked to the priest did I learn you left with them.”

He talked to Richter? The asshole with toothpaste for hair? Well, it looked more like a waterfall if it swallowed the El and glowed in the dark, but that wasn’t the point. 

Mastermind held on to his counterpart and closed his eyes, unsure on how to feel. The lilac cushion he was resting on wasn’t doing him service on keeping him comfortable when Bringer chided him for his foolhardiness. Bringer must be upset if he went up to the priest to learn on his whereabouts. The brawler hated him. 

“I didn’t want to trouble you,” Mastermind admitted. “You and your friends already finished your business with those monsters. I didn’t want to make you go through that again and…”

His voice grew soft, almost inaudible if he wasn’t leaning close for Bringer to hear. The scientist’s face glowed with warmth from the blood traveling to his cheeks. Pride be damned, Mastermind could never get used to being honest about himself. There was no point in feeling shame for something that was true, but it still made his hands shake. 

His voice dropped to a murmur, “I didn’t want to see you get hurt either.”

It was irrational to hold fear on a brawler getting hurt when that was the kind of lifestyle Bringer upheld. Even so, the thought of his counterpart’s blood smeared on the white pristine marble of Elrianode formed a knot in his stomach in the worst way possible. 

Mastermind forced himself to look up to see Bringer’s eyes getting damp, blinking them away, but the scientist saw them. The other’s lips quivered, biting them down to hide the shock, but the wide eyes gave it away. 

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Bringer wiped the stray blood off Mastermind’s arm as he pulled away from the embrace. “But you don’t need to hide stuff from me if you rather do it with someone else.” 

He tucked in the end of the bandage wrap in and scanned the rest of his body for any further wounds he may have missed. His eyes were careful not to meet the scientist, but Mastermind didn’t miss the stares when Bringer thought he wasn’t looking. The brawler picked out a chunk of dry blood from his bangs and pulled it out with a tissue.

“Your hair,” Bringer uttered. “What happened to it?”

There it was, Mastermind closed his eyes. He was surprised it wasn’t brought up earlier, but with blood spill, there was no time for Bringer to notice the change until now.

“Do you like it?” Mastermind was absent minded and pulled his hair behind his ear, before remembering his side bangs were gone. 

Mastermind ran his fingers through his hair, long curls gone and now went down to his ear rather than to his back. His bangs split in the middle, covering the eye with the scar imprinted by Dynamo. The awkward silence between them when Bringer found him injured carried weight from shock, but he had a feeling it wasn’t only because of his state. 

“It’s…different.” Bringer stated the obvious, but paused, “When did you get it cut?”

“When you were busy getting new tattoos,” Mastermind said dryly. 

He knew Bringer liked his hair and used to play with it when he did his research, but it was a hassle to maintain. It curled on rainy days and took time to straighten when interacting with Bringer’s inventions or when the brawler messed with him by static shocking his hair ‘for fun’. _Asshole._

Rena offered to cut his hair when he expressed the idea, before he left to join the rest of his teammates to the excursion of Elrianode. He enjoyed talking to the Grand Archer because she kept the conversation direct, but she didn’t probe into why he wanted a sudden change. With shorter hair, his head felt lighter and morning routines were going to become easier, but he was certainly going to miss having something to tug on when he needed to ponder over his research.

“Are those the new Dynamo model?” Bringer picked up one of the deactivated weapons from the coffee table, perplexed by its simple design. There were purple cubes, each split into four squares on each surface, pink lines running across with buttons at the center. “They look like Apocalypse!”

“They were based off it,” Mastermind said with pride.

Not as destructive as Apocalypse of course, but they held more battery power than before and could inflict more damage with precise timing. Every update was meant to be an improvement from the last, sometimes counterproductive with glitches that worked against his favor, but he could say with confidence that this model was the best.

“No cat ears?” Bringer teased. “Didn’t your old coat have them too?” 

Heat reached his face again with Mastermind blushing, “What’s the point in giving them ears?” H-he may have considered giving them ears in the early stages of designing them, but that would have made certain tasks uncomfortable, like standing or sitting on them. 

“That didn’t stop you from giving them to Apochan~”

This guy… Mastermind grabbed the cube from Bringer to check for any cracks sustained from the excursion. Not a single crack to be seen. At least that confirmed the experiment on how much damage it could withstand. 

Bringer sighed, “I’m glad your teammates have enough sense to come with you. It’s already bad enough having Esper run off again.”

“He’ll come back like he always does,” Mastermind said, but didn’t voice his opinion that Esper’s stay away was longer than the usual. Was he able to talk about people running off when he just did it himself?

Despite the protests from Bringer, he helped the other clean the living room. He was injured, not paralyzed from the waist down. He wiped the coffee table clean and threw the dirty bandages into the trash bin when there was a loud crack. It came from upstairs, a sound he hasn’t heard in weeks that it shook him up when he heard it.

_Esper?_

* * *

_Omake_

“If you have new powers,” Bringer thought out loud. “That means you’re like me, right? Did you come up with a title for yourself yet?”

After getting his new title poked at (Hey, Doom Bringer is a cool name!), the brawler was curious to see what kind of name his counterpart had in mind. Their old titles were determined by reputation, what they were remembered for by locals at the time they made their presence known. Knowing Mastermind, the scientist probably had been thinking about this for some time.

“I have,” a sly smile formed on his lips. Oh no… it was that all knowing smirk, like he found something amusing in his question. Mastermind covered his mouth and chuckled, “You can call me Dominator.”

Bringer’s face was as red as Rune’s hair.

“…Get away from me, you kinky bastard!”


	3. Unstable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With no signs of Diabolic Esper returning, Dominator begins to wonder when the time traveler will show up. One day, Dominator hears a crack and finds a new face waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.

Dominator turn to the sound of the familiar crack, expecting to see eyes the color of the night. It was painful to see no signs of the time traveler after the years he had grown to associate it with him. The frequency of the cracks was as sporadic as his appearances, but it was a welcomed one because it meant Esper was home and a full dinner table to look forward to. Even now, he had a tough time admitting that he missed it after weeks of the man’s absence. 

Expecting Esper to crawl out of his portal to surprise him, Dominator backed away in what he thought was the time traveler when he saw someone in his peripheral vision. Adorned in deep shades of violet and magenta was a child wearing a pair of boots two sizes too big. Their clothes were baggy around the arms and legs, jacket unbuttoned to reveal a black turtleneck underneath.

“Time?” He saw the child’s eyes and gasped, the left one with a black sclera and the right remaining clear. Refraining himself from pulling down the child’s hoodie he wore to cover his face, Dominator asked, “What happened to Esper? Have you seen him?”

Something was wrong.

He was too small to be the Time Tracer, who was getting closer to his height as of late with how much he ate because of his and Bringer’s encouragement. It was hard to tell how old this child was because of the baggy clothes. The heavy bags under his eyes gave him a forlorn expression, he didn’t smile when he gave Dominator his attention, having to stand on his tiptoes to look at the scientist.

Could the child be another alternative version of them? It wouldn’t be the first time Esper brought home another, with the tracers and all. Having placed his hand on the child’s shoulder in what was meant to be a gesture of kindness, Dominator dropped his hand when he saw it.

Their left shoulder lost its tangibility, no longer holding form with the lines where it should have been reduced to broken particles, bits of it chipped off and glowing in a color unseen by the human eye. With alarmed eyes, Dominator threw off his coat and wrapped it around the child, in a desperate attempt to hold him together. The rest of their body wasn’t any more stable, sometimes other parts of him losing form. Was he looking at a ghost?

“I’m not Time,” the child’s eyes were closed.

His voice was rich and deep, sounding like it belonged to a man than someone his age with his baby face. It was an aural dissonance that had Dominator turn his head around to look at the child with alarm. There was care in the words he chose, slow pauses before he talked. The lack of intonation in his voice or how still he was when he spoke was unsuited for a child.

Shrugging Dominator’s jacket off, he handed it back to the scientist, “That won’t be necessary. The effect is already in place.” 

Many questions ran through his head on what the child meant, but he knew it was poor timing to ask when they had just met. It was better to get more acquainted with them first before pressing on the questions. 

Dominator felt stupid for pointing out the obvious, but the child showed no concern for it when he gestured to his shoulder again. “We should still look at it at least.”

Staring with wide eyes, he opened his mouth to object, but the gentleness in Dominator’s tone and the insistence of joining him for a drink left the child to agree with a weak smile. Left on the living room couch, he sat with his legs dangling and his hoodie off to reveal bed hair not unlike that of a certain time traveler. He looked up when Dominator returned with two cups of hot chocolate and a jar of sugar to place on the coffee table. A bag of mini marshmallows, a can of whipped cream, and a cinnamon shaker was spotted alongside the hot drinks for toppings. 

It was hard not to stare when the child dumped at least a spoonful worth of sugar and chucked several marshmallows into his hot chocolate to splash some of it onto the coffee table. Dominator sighed at the thought of having to clean that up later, but if it would make it easier for the kid to talk, so be it.

“You’re going to get high on sugar if you’re not careful,” Dominator chuckled and pulled it away from the child when they were going for the third spoon.

Taking a sip from his own drink, he hummed when its sweet taste of chocolate and cinnamon hit the tip of his tongue with sweet delight. It wasn’t as good as when Esper made it, his counterpart had perfected the art of making hot chocolate, but it was enough to satisfy the scientist. 

“What’s your name?” Dominator decided to go for an easy question. “Was your shoulder always like this?”

“If you mean being dislocated, I’ve always been close to losing my head.” A grin popped out from his pale features to reveal sharp teeth, “So are my arms.”

It affected other places too? Dominator took note that they ignored his first question and even joked about himself! He huffed at how they weren’t taking their condition with concern and wondered if it was a way for them to cope with it. 

“Well,” the child rubbed his chin. After the time spent as a slave, Dominator felt sick when he saw the collar around his neck. “It affects my feet, legs, body… everything really. Even my hair.”

It was a rare moment for Dominator to be unsure of what was wrong with the child. Even after years of researching Nasods and the like, even time travel, it was the first time he saw anything like this. If they were struggling to maintain their form, or what looked to be their own existence, that would be something Esper would know about, not him. Could this child be involved in time and space like Time and Esper?

“Is there pain?” Dominator asked, “Do you feel anything when it happens?”

“It doesn’t hurt, so don’t worry. In fact, it kind of tickles!” The child gave a dark chuckle, “All these questions you’re throwing at me… To the point as always, Add. I suppose things remained the same since I left.”

A smirk curled at his lips, pink seashells against paper-like skin, his eyes glowing magenta to match Dominator’s. The Cheshire grin and how his nimble fingers picked a stray marshmallow from the bag to pop into his mouth as he hummed, as if he read what was on the scientist’s mind and relished that moment in time. The child took a sip and remained smiling, giggling when Dominator lost his grip on his own cup and had to place it down to hold his head.

“Esper,” Dominator breathed his name. “Is that you?”

He clapped his hands and beamed, “You figured it out~ It was cute how worried you were. Did you really think I was a lost child?”

Looking at the child’s face and comparing it to Esper’s in his mind, Dominator saw the similarities. The resemblance was uncanny, but he looked more like Time. The sad dispositions, the small body frame, how could Esper reverse to this state? The prerequisites to reach to that would hold heavy consequences he couldn’t imagine.

“You act like one,” Dominator used the cup to hide his red face with no avail. “Look any younger and someone will ask you where your mother is.”

Dominator covered his mouth, but it was too late. Esper frowned, biting his lips with a hazy look in his eyes that spoke little but an emotion he couldn’t name. Regret? Pain? When he looked at the time traveler again, Esper replaced it with a neutral expression, his lips lying into a hard line. There was a pang of regret when Dominator saw the damage his words had caused.

Gritting his teeth in the pain of his own words, some of it from guilt, Dominator looked up when to Esper when the other disappeared. It happened again. Esper’s form distorted, his body growing transparent and disappearing, filling the air with thick static that made one’s arm hair stand up being in the same room.

His tiny body regained palpability, becoming solid when Dominator tried touching him, but it shocked the scientist when he didn’t pull out his arm back in time. Growing dimmer, Esper faded away with his face regressed in anger and let out a high pitch screech that made Dominator cover his ears.

When he opened his eyes, a tall man dressed in a black high collared suit solidified in where Esper once was. The jewel in his chest shone bright like the long hair falling pas his ankles, wearing a coat falling over his loose shoulders to show the unstructured left shoulder Esper had. Familiar black scleras stared back at Dominator with displeasure.

“Esper… I’m sorry,” Dominator flinched when he saw Esper’s face.

Esper didn’t speak, looking down at his gloves with wet eyes. His face was contorted with raw emotions, fat tears rolled out when Dominator awkwardly wrapped his arms around Esper to pull his counterpart into a tight embrace. The time traveler didn’t reject his touch, so at least a part of him was forgiven, or at least that’s what Dominator hoped for. He wanted Esper to know he didn’t mean what he said with bad intentions, but words be damned. Any form of apology seemed pathetic when what Esper needed was his touch, his presence.

There was more than one form for Esper. From what he had witnessed, those forms were malleable, almost fluid with how quick he was to change between them. It was something unnatural he couldn’t understand because of the likelihood of its relationship to Esper’s unstable existence, but it was enough for Dominator to know that he was in pain. 

“Do you want me to stay?” Dominator asked, squeezing Esper’s free hand that wasn’t clinging to his waist. “I’m sure we can figure out what to do about your unstable forms.” 

Esper had a sad smile.

* * *

_Omake_

Doom Bringer cheered when Dominator gave in to letting him take them to a new cafe in Velder and Esper wanting to join them for the… special benefits. 

Sitting at a benched table outside, the scientist looked at the seats in disgust, not wanting to imagine when was the last time the restaurant employees bothered wiping them clean. He had his drones clean it before he and his counterparts sat of course, but waiting for the food to be brought over to them made the minutes they sat there long and strenuous. At the back of his mind, the scientist wondered if it was too late to take it back and return to his lab.

In his child form, Esper sat with his legs too short to reach the ground, swinging them back and forth as he ate his sandwich, only stopping to steal a sip of coffee from Dominator. Having control over two different age ranges, Bringer saw no problem in ordering a kid’s meal for the discount. Not eating much to begin with, Esper was more than happy to oblige.

“So,” Bring said in between bites with his mouth full of fries. “You can switch between the two forms.”

“Uh huh,” Esper nodded. “Well, it’s harder than I make it sound, but that’s how it works.”

“You’re like a Mad Paradox or something,” the brawler cackled.

“You’re just slapping words together now,” Dominator sighed. The brute probably thought it sounded cool in his head or something like that. There was no way Esper was going to agree to that name-

“You can call me that then,” Esper shrugged and dipped a fry into his milkshake before dropping it in his mouth. 

Unbelievable. 

Bringer grinned. “We should do this more often.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Dominator hissed.

“Why not?” The brawler laughed, “You get a free toy with it.”

Dominator groaned, but Esper found humor in it and giggled.


End file.
